Christian h



(No Model.)

C. H..HANSEN.

`PLATE POR PRINTING.

No. 250,288. Patented Nov. 29,1881.

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INVENTOR,

WITNESSES ./Ittorneys N. PETERS. nulu-umognphr, washington. D. c.

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTIAN HQHANSEN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

PLATE FOR PR|NT|NG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,238, dated November29, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN H. HANSEN,

Y of Washington, in the District of Columbia,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Relief Blocks orPlates for Printing; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this speciieation. 1

Thisinvention relates to an improved method or process of producingrelief blocks or plates for printing; and it consists in certainimprovements upon the process described and claimed in an applicationfor Letters Patent led by me on the 13th day of November, 1880,`andallowed on the 16th day of August, 1881, my said improvements, ashereinafter described, having for their object to simplify and reducethe expense of the process, as well as the saving of time and labor.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 represents a sectional view of the bedor base plate, with its foil and intervening layer of plasticmaterial,ready for the application of the stylus or otherengraving-tool. Fig. 2 is a similar View, showing the indentationsformed in the foil in preparing the engraving. Fig. 3 represents asection of the bed-plate, with its indented foil, after the type-metalbacking has been cast upon the foil, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view ofthe complete block, ready for printing.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

To carry outl my process, I lirst provide a bed or base plate of steelor other suitable material that will resist heat, the top of whichshould be polished smooth and placed in a perfectly level position. Thisbaseplate is shown at C in the drawings. Next, I provide plate C with acoating ofplastic material which will resist heat-such as slaked lime,kaolin, tripoli, powdered cuttle-flsh bone, or other suitable material,which, when mixed with a suitable quantity of water, will form a plasticcomposition which may he spread evenly upon the top of the plate to forma coating of uniform thickness, as shown at B-and which will notApplication led September 3, 1881. (No model.)

melt or run by the application of heat. The next step is to carefullycover 4the coating B with a layer of any suitable foil which will notmelt at the point of temperature where type-metal melts. I have foundthat thin copper-foil is well adapted for this purpose, and this shouldbe provided With a thin lm or coating of tin or solder, as shown at a,the letter A representing the copper-foil. As thus prepared, thebase-plate is ready to receive the engraving by iudenting the foil a A,down through the layer, B, of plastic material, to the base C, by meansof a stylus or other suitable instrument, according to the igure,sketch, or lettering wliieh itis desired to represent in the engraving.The plastic layer B operates to give depth and toile to the lines, whichmay be made line or coarse by using different kinds of tools; and itwillreadily be seen that as the engraver has soft and yielding material towork in, the engraving, or rather indentation, may be executed withgreat rapidity. lf desired, the sketch, figure, orletteringto bereproduced may be transferred upon the foil-plate by photography, orother suitable means of transfer, to aid the operator in the executionof his work. Theplate having been prepared in this manner, the thin ilmor coating a of the foil A is carefully moistened with muriatic acid, orother suitable acid, to prepare it to receive and irmly adhere to thetype-metal backing. The plate is placed in a suitable frame, after whicha suitable quantity of molten typemetal is poured over the foil to forma plate or backing of the desired thickness, as shown at D in Figs. 3and 4. The type-metal, as it ows freely overthe foil film a, unitestherewith without disturbing in the least the underlying foil A orcoating B, and after hardening, the plate or relief block D a A thusformed is removed from the coated base-plate C and ready for use afterwashing its face to remove any trace of the coating material andsuitably finishing the back.

Inasmuch as the object of the foil lm a is simply to cause thetype-meta-l D to adhere to the indented foil A, it is obvious that saidfilm may be applied to the foil at any stage of the process prior to thepouring of the molten typemetal upon the foil, and in any suitablemanner; but on account of the simplicity attenda IOO ing its manufactureand use I prefer to employ copperfoil which is provided with a thin filmof tin or solder metal on one side.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States- The method ot' forming reliefblocks or plates for printing, which consists in, first, applying to abed a layer of a yielding plastic material capable of resisting heat,and upon this a foil capable of resisting the heat at which typemetalmelts7 and provided with a thin film of tin or solder metal on its upperor exposed side; next, indenting by suitable means the foil through thelayer of plastic material to the bed or base plate; next, preparing theindented foil film to adapt it tounte with molten type-metal, and thenbacking the foil by pouring a suitable quantity of molten type-metalover it, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereunto axedmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHRISTIAN H. HANSEN.

Witnesses:

LoUIs BAGGER, GEORGE J. NASH.

